Some of John wesley's last words were "the best of all God is with us", which I think are truely wonderful.
This blog is probably rather dull, it's about me and stuff I like, music and books and such like

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Pray without ceasing

So I mentioned a while ago i would blog about pray without ceasing. It is a prayer initiative from the methodist church, which was launched at last years conference, inspired by 24:7 prayer. The idea being that people will be praying day and night for about 14 months and to be a time to explore different ways of praying and being with god. Each district within the connexion have taken blocks of time within this period and recently it was the sheffield districts turn. Our circuit was given a 24 hour period to fill and a number of churches around the circuit set up prayer rooms. As part of our 'alternative worship service' (awe), at broomhill methodist, we set up a room for a prayerful reflective session which would take place just before the 24hr 'stint' began. the room would then be left for use during the following day. The room was split into a number of 'stations' with a guide leading from one to another, at each station there were various things to consider, for praise, worship, forgiveness and prayer, all of which were effective in their own right. We made use of paints, pipe cleaners, powerpoint, looping videos, banners, candles and all manner of other items. It really was a special time praying in there, and it's difficult to describe how fast time goes, and how all the different ways of using creative ideas is condusive to prayer and spending time with god. There were many positive comments from people who utilised the room, from people of faith and those of none. Which I find encouraging.That evening I went to another church, wesley hall, where another prayer space had been curated, and getting up around 0230 i spent a good hour and a half in prayer, it's a great time to pray! then back to sleep before getting up around 0630 for work. I hope it is a venture that we can try again in the circuit.There is a photo set on flickr with more pics from the event.